Marles a ‘factional assassin', Husic says in attack following factional coup
Dumped Labor minister Ed Husic has launched a sensational attack on Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, describing him as a 'factional assassin' whose decision to get rid of two ministers compromised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's election victory.
Husic also claimed the government had been 'shackled' by a timid approach on policy and said his removal as a cabinet minister was carried out partly as retaliation for his outspoken pro-Palestinian advocacy.
The member for the Sydney seat of Chifley made the remarks in an ABC Insiders interview on Sunday morning that was scheduled before Husic learnt in the middle of last week that he would lose his position in the ministry.
The Victorian Right faction led by Marles was underrepresented in the cabinet and it was entitled to two new spots, for MPs Sam Rae and Daniel Mulino, meaning Husic, from the NSW Right, and attorney-general Mark Dreyfus were forced to make away.
'We've had bare faced ambition and a deputy prime minister wield a factional club to reshape the ministry,' Husic said, in one of the most striking displays of disunity in the life of the Albanese government.
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'I think people when they look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin.'
Husic said the prime minister should have stopped Marles, and that the factional coup had hurt the image of the newly elected Labor government.
'I just feel for the supporters of our party, who went from the high of a Saturday and a terrific and tremendous win… I just feel like it's been a distraction at the start of what'll be a successful second term,' he said, urging Albanese to 'burn through the timidity that shackled us' in its first term.
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